Rays Shutout, Again, As Jays Sweep

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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Pinch-hitter Colby Rasmus homered in the 10th inning and the Toronto Blue Jays earned their first three-game sweep at Tampa Bay by beating the Rays 1-0 on Thursday night.

Rasmus led off with a long drive into the right-field seats against Steve Geltz (0-1).

Tampa Bay had runners at first and third with none out, and the bases loaded with one out, in the ninth. But reliever Brett Cecil (2-3) worked out of the jam by striking out three in the inning. Casey Janssen got three outs for his 21st save.

Toronto won the first two games of the series to stop a streak of 22 consecutive winless road series (including one in Orlando) against the Rays dating to April 6-8, 2007.

Both starters, Toronto’s Mark Buehrle and the Rays’ Jake Odorizzi, had impressive outings.

Buehrle, who is 1-8 in 16 starts since June 7, allowed five hits, one walk and struck out four over eight innings. He started the season by winning 10 of 11 decisions over his first 12 starts.

Odorizzi, coming off a 7-0 win Saturday over Boston in which he allowed just one hit, gave up three hits, walked none and had three strikeouts in 7 1-3 innings.

Anthony Gose had a one-out double in the sixth, but Odorizzi got a liner from Jose Reyes and struck out Melky Cabrera.

Buehrle retired Ryan Hanigan on a foul pop fly with two runners on to end the second.

The Rays have been shut out 17 times this season.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Blue Jays: RHP Chad Jenkins is expected to miss the rest of the regular season after breaking his pitching hand while shagging balls in batting practice — making him the second Toronto pitcher in two days to get hurt during pregame warmups. RHP R.A. Dickey threw 62 pitches Thursday during his regular bullpen session between starts, one day after he was struck in the head by Evan Longoria’s drive while standing in the left-field corner during BP.

Rays: CF Desmond Jennings is frustrated by lingering left knee soreness, but hopes to play before the season ends. He has missed seven straight games.